This article is really great and shows a lot of what makes his on-court play amazing, but I these bits about who he is off the court make me love him more than anything:
At the end of every season, Pritchard and Buchanan sit down with every player on the Pacers roster to talk about the way things went—a standard practice in the NBA world. One question they always ask is:
What more can we do, as management, to help the team?
Some players might have notes about communication or travel policies. Others might have a few quibbles about the team facility. But an exit interview with Haliburton has a way of turning into a think tank. How can we help out the equipment manager? Does the strength coach get paid extra to come work guys out on off days? And why, when the team goes on the road, do we offer meals for players after shootaround but not for the rest of the support staff?
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a player, a coach, a ball boy, a GM—he’s gonna treat everyone the same,” says Pacers assistant Isaac Yacob
and
The impact of every star is felt differently. Some of the league’s most incredible players clock in and clock out, and that works for them. Haliburton doesn’t really operate that way. When the Pacers have a team outing, he organizes it and books cars for everyone. If he and some teammates are going out for dinner after a game, there are no cliques. The whole team is invited—and Haliburton is paying.
Haliburton’s father often reminds him that in this role, he’s responsible for the livelihood of everyone around him. Part of seeing the bigger picture is understanding the costs of people depending on you. What qualifies Haliburton for that kind of responsibility, beyond being one of the premiere point guards in the league, is that he cares enough to know as much as he can. “He knows everything about every guy,” Buchanan says. “Where they’re from, what AAU team they played for, what NBA teams they played for, their contract, who their agent is. He knows all that shit. So he’s already invested. He can put himself in their shoes.”